“Nathan Ballingrud is one of my favorite short fiction writers.”—Jeff VanderMeer

“Nathan Ballingrud’s ‘The Way Station’ is another story of the sort I’ve come to expect from him: emotionally intense, riveting, and deeply upsetting in many ways. It deals with loss, with the aftereffects of Katrina on a homeless alcoholic who’s haunted by the city itself be-fore the flood, and in doing so it’s wrenching. . . . It’s an excellent story that paints a riveting por-trait of a man, his city, and his loss.”—Tor.com on The Naked City

“But the two most remarkable stories in Naked City are by relatively new authors: ‘The Projected Girl’ (Haifa) by Lavie Tidhar and ‘The Way Station’ (New Orleans and St. Petersburg, Florida) by Nathan Ballingrud are both heartbreakers.”—John Clute on Strange Hori-zons

These are love stories. And also monster stories. Sometimes these are mon-sters in their traditional guises, sometimes they wear the faces of parents, lovers, or ourselves. The often working-class people in these stories are driven to extremes by love. Sometimes, they are ruined; sometimes redeemed. All are faced with the loneliest corners of themselves and strive to find an escape.

After working our way through the pulp era, it's time to begin looking at the 'Golden Age' of Science Fiction. Many people felt that this movement began with John Campbell Jr.'s work at Astounding magazine, and there's no better way to start off this movement than examining the magazine that helped bring science fiction out of the pulp magazines. Continue Reading →

John Picacio is a World Fantasy and Hugo Award-winning illustrator who is currently reimagining Loteria, the classic Mexican game of chance. His first Loteria artworks are now available as a set of large-format, special-edition cards from Lone Boy. Welcome to the sixth and final installment of The Loteria Match Game, sponsored by SF Signal. I’m your host, John Picacio. How many Continue Reading →

We always knew the original Star Trek was a bit trippy, now here's proof. A music video of Jefferson Airplane's 'White Rabbit', starring the cast of classic Trek. Psychedelic! Too bad I'm not a big Airplane, or 'White Rabbit' fan... [Via BoingBoing]